Initiatives

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Chairs

Public Chair: Senator Chris Shank, Maryland

Private Chair: Stacie Rumenap, Stop Child Predators

Staff

Cara Sullivan, Director
571-482-5031 – csullivan@alec.org

Task Force Documents

Currently, one in ten American adults is behind bars and, once released from prison, more than four in ten return within three years. This failing system costs the states over $50 billion a year and is not delivering adequate public safety results for taxpayers and victims.

In response, the American Legislative Exchange Council has launched The Justice Performance Project, an program to advance proven criminal justice reforms based on over two decades of data-driven research and practice.

Members of the Justice Performance Project advance solutions that refocus criminal justice resources on dangerous offenders and put the right programs in place to hold non-violent offenders accountable while providing them with the resources they need to become contributing members of society. The Justice Performance Project focuses on three key areas: Corrections and Reentry, Pretrial Release, and Overcriminalization.

In the Justice Performance Project’s efforts to alleviate and eventually end the prison overcrowding problem, the Prison Overcrowding Initiative offers state-by-state statistics for all 50 states.

Major Issues

Corrections and Reentry – States need policy solutions to reduce corrections spending while maintaining the safety of their communities. ALEC policies divert nonviolent offenders from prison to evidence-based programs that have been proven to work, provide for victim restitution and allow offenders to become contributing members of society. These policies ensure costly prison cells and strict penalties are reserved for violent and predatory offenders, while lessening the number of nonviolent offenders in prison.

Overcriminalization – The over-proliferation of criminal statutes has contributed to exploding prison populations, expanding state corrections budgets, and the disruption of business activity and growth. These policies protect citizens’ businesses, livelihoods and reputations so they can continue to contribute to, and strengthen, our economy.

Pretrial Release – ALEC believes a well-functioning bail and pretrial release system is necessary to ensure offenders appear for their trial and to maintain community safety.